Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
Simulation allows educators to develop learner-focused training and outcomes-based assessments. However, the effectiveness and validity of simulation-based training in emergency medicine (EM) requires further investigation. ⋯ The article reviews relevant and established educational research methodologies and identifies gaps in our knowledge of how physicians learn procedures. The authors present questions requiring further research that, once answered, will advance understanding of simulation-based procedural training and assessment in EM.
-
This consensus group from the 2008 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference, "The Science of Simulation in Healthcare: Defining and Developing Clinical Expertise," held in Washington, DC, May 28, 2008, focused on the use of simulation for the development of individual expertise in emergency medicine (EM). Methodologically sound qualitative and quantitative research will be needed to illuminate, refine, and test hypotheses in this area. The discussion focused around six primary topics: the use of simulation to study the behavior of experts, improving the overall competence of clinicians in the shortest time possible, optimizing teaching strategies within the simulation environment, using simulation to diagnose and remediate performance problems, and transferring learning to the real-world environment. Continued collaboration between academic communities that include medicine, cognitive psychology, and education will be required to answer these questions.
-
Teamwork is integral to a working environment conducive to patient safety and care. Team training is one methodology designed to equip team members with the competencies necessary for optimizing teamwork. ⋯ To address this gap in understanding, and to provide guidance for members of the health care community interested in implementing team training programs, this article presents both quantitative results and a specific qualitative review and content analysis of team training implemented in health care. Based on this review, we offer eight evidence-based principles for effective planning, implementation, and evaluation of team training programs specific to health care.
-
The objective was to determine effects of a modification in triage process on triage acuity distribution in general and among patients with conditions requiring time-sensitive therapy. ⋯ Monitoring for changes in the sensitivity of the triage process for detecting patients with potentially time-sensitive conditions should be considered when modifying triage processes. Further work should be done to determine if the decreased sensitivity seen in this study occurs in other institutions converting to ESI, and potential causative factors should be explored.